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NEW LIGHT UPON THE FOUNDING 
OF GEORGIA 



The Georgia Historical Quarterly 

Volume VI. December, 1922 Number 4 

NEW LIGHT UPON THE FOUNDING 
OF GEORGIA. 



ULRICH BONNELL PHILLIPS, Ph. D. 
Professor of History in the 
University of Michigan. 



It has long been known that the first Earl of Egmont was 
a leader in promoting the colonization of Georgia, and that 
he wrote a journal of the trustees' meetings 1 which is much 
more detailed than the official record. In addition, a vol- 
uminous private diary of his is now being printed as a public 
document of the British government. The first volume of 
this, which has now appeared, 2 containing about one-third 
of the manuscript and covering the years from 1730 to 
1733, supplements greatly the knowledge previously avail- 
able upon a wide variety of English affairs in the period. 
It reports elaborately a number of debates in Parliament 
which the official records have given only in the most frag- 
mentary form; it illustrates vividly the manoeuvering of the 
politicians great and small; it tells many curious things of 
life in royal and aristocratic circles; and it shows the author 
to have been a high-minded courtier as well as an ardent 
philanthropist, a music lover, a collector of engravings, and 
a devoted husband and father, yet enough of a gossip withal 
to establish him now as a verv notable diarist. More to 



1 This is extant only for the years from 1738 to 1744. It was first printed 
privately by G. W. J. DeRenne as one of the Wormsloe Quartos : John, Earl of 
Egmont, A Journal of the Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in Ameri- 
ca. Wormsloe, 1886 (edition limited to 49 copies) ; and is now more generally 
accessible as volume five of the Georgia Colonial Records. 

2. Historical Manuscripts Commission. Manuscripts of the Earl of Egmont. 
Diary of Viscount Percival, afterward First Earl of Egmont. Vol. 1. 1730-1733. 
Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty. London, 1920. pp. XIX, 
477. price two shillings. 



the present purpose, the book adds materially to the pre- 
viously existing knowledge of the inception of the Georgia 
project and the launching of the colony. At the time the 
diary opens' the author, then bearing the title of Viscount 
Percival in the peerage of Ireland- was forty-seven years 
of age and in the midst of social, political and philanthropic 
affairs. Prompted, as he relates,' 5 by a desire to be ol serv- 
ice to the new king» George II, he had procured election 
from a family borough to the English House of Commons; 
and he had served under Oglethorpe's chairmanship on the 
Parliamentary committee for investigating conditions in the 
English prisons. Furthermore he had long been an intimate 
friend of Dean Berkeley 1 ho had sounght through years 
to establish a college in America; and he also was a mem- 
ber of a board of trustees who adopted the name "the 
Associates of the Late Dr. Bray" and continued Bray's 
own work in two lines, the establishment of local religious 
libraries and the conversion of negroes to Christianity."' 

The first two entries in the diary concerning Georgia pro- 
ject are so significant as to call for quotation at some length. 
Under date of February 13, 1730: 

I met Mr. Oglethorp [sic] who informed that he had found a 
very considerable charity, even fifteen thousand pounds, which lay 
in trustees' hands, and was like to have been lost because the heir of 
the testator being one of the trustees, refused to concur with the 
other two in any methods for disposing of the money, in hopes, as 
they were seventy years old each of fhem, they would soon die. and 
he should remain only surviving trustee, and then might apply it all 
to his own use. That the two old men were very honest and desirous 
to be discharged of their burthen, and had concurred with him to get 
the matter lodged in a Master of Chancery's hands till new trustees 
should be appointed to dispose thereof in a way that should be ap- 
proved of by them in conjunction with the Lord Chancellor. That the 
heir of the testator had opposed this, and there had been a lawsuit 
thereupon, which Oglethorp had carried against the heir, who appealed 

1 January 8, 1730. The diary was probably begun at an earlier time, but 
if so the preceding portions have not been preserved. 

2. He was raised to the Earldom of Egmont, also in the Peerage of Ireland, 
in August, 1733. 

3. Diary, p. 20. The pages of the diary will not be cited where the dates of 
its items are given in the text of this study. 

4. Cf. Benjamin Rand, Berkt h y and Percival. Cambridge, 1914. 

5. Cf. An excellent brief study. "The Philanthropists and the Genesis of 
Georgia", by Professor Verner W. Crane of Brown University, in the American 
Historical Review XXVII, 63 ( October, 1821). Those who became Georgia 
trustees included all the trustees of the Dalone will and all of the Bray associates. 
Indeed the Georgia board in its own sessions handled the affairs of the Dalone 
snd Bray legacies until May 1733, when upon discovery that this was irregular, 
the three administrations were separated. (Diary, pp. 378-382). 



against the decree; but my Lord Chancellor had confirmed it, and it 
was a pleasure to him to have been able in one year's time to be able 
at law to settle this affair. That the trustees had consented to this 
on condition that the trust should be annexed to some trusteeship 
already in being, and that being informed that I was a trustee for 
Mr. Dalone's legacy, who left about a thousand pounds to convert 
negroes, he had proposed to me and my associates as proper persons 
to be made trustees of this new affair; that the old gentleman ap- 
proved of us, and he hoped I would accept it in conjunction with 
himself and several of our Committee of Gaols, as Mr. Towers, Mr. 
Hughes, Mr. Holland, Major Selwyn, and some other gentlemen 
of worth, as Mr Sloper and Mr. Vernon, Commissioner of the Excise. 
I told him it was a great pleasure to me to hear his great industry 
in recovering and securing so great a charity and to be joined with 
gentlemen whose worth I knew so well. . . He then . . . said 
that he must tell me by the way, the old trustees of the fifteen 
thousand pounds would as yet allow but five thousand pounds to be 
under our management, which sum would answer the scheme; that 
the scheme is to procure a quantity of acres either from the Govern- 
ment or by gift or purchase in the West Indies, and to plant thereon 
a hundred miserable wretches who being let out of gaol by the last 
year's Act are, are now starving about the town f or want of employ- 
ment: that they should be settled all together by way of colony, and 
be subject to subordinate rulers, who should inspect their behaviour, 
and labour under one chief head; that in time they with their fam- 
ilies would increase so fast as to become a security and defense of 
our possessions againt the French and Indians of those parts; that 
they should be employed in cultivating flax and hemp, which being 
allowed to make into yarn, would be returned to England and Ire- 
land, and greatly promote our manufactures. All which I ap- 
proved. 

Next under date of April I the following: 

I called on Mr. Oglethorp, who kept me three hours and more ex- 
plaining his project of sending a colony of poor and industrious deb- 
tors to the West Indies. . . .Our business is to get a Patent or 
Charter for incorporating a number of honest and reputable persons 
to pursue this good work. Mr. Oglethorpe told me that the number 
relieved by the last year's Act out of prison for debt are ten thousand, 
and that three hundred are returned to take the benefit thereof from 
Prussia, many of whom are woolen manufactuers. 

These items go far toward extinguishing all possible 
doubts that the Georgia project originated in Oglethorpe's 
mind. 1 They indicate very strongly, in fact, that the plan 
was framed in all essentials before he communicated it to 
those who were to be his fellow trustees. Oglethorpe's ac- 
count to Percival implies furthermore that it was the dis- 
covery of this fund, which had been bequeathed by "one 
King, a haberdasher" for unspecified charitable uses which 



1. As to these doubts, see James P. McCain, Qeorgid as a Proprietary Prov- 
ince, pp. 60, 61. 



suggested to Oglethorpe the thought of a charitable colony. 
The distresses of unemployment among the liberated deb- 
tor-prisoners, however, were doubtless already a matter of 
concern to him. 

Incidentally it should be noted in connection with the pas- 
sages quoted above, that the term "West Indies" was in 
those times often used to include the continent as well as the 
islands; and Oglethorpe's allusion to the protection of the 
English "possessions in those parts'' against the French and 
Indians suggests an intention of a continental location from 
the first. Many times afterward the diary names "Carolina" 
as the intended location, and curiously it does not mention 
"Georgia" until May, 1732, the month following the sig- 
nature of the charter by the king. The reason was that 
no name was adopted for the colony until many months 
after the inception of the project. Some of the chronology 
in the premises may be gathered from the proceedings of the 
Privy Council which have somewhat recently been published 
for this period. 1 It there appears that the first name pro- 
posed by the petitioners for themselves was "the Corporation 
for Establishing Charitable Colonys in America"; and the 
name "Georgia" does not occur until December 14, 1 73 1 . 

The course of events concerning the charter itself may be 
traced from Percival's diary and the Acts of the Privy Coun- 
cil in combination. On July 30, 1730, Percival records: 
"we agreed on a petition to the King and Council for ob- 
taining a grant of lands on the south-west of Carolina for 
settling poor persons of London, and having ordered it to 
be engrossed fair, we signed it, all who were present, and 
the other Associates were to be spoke also to sign it before 
delivered." This petition for a grant of land and a charter 
of incorporation was considered by the Privy Council 
on September 17, 1730, and was referred to a committee 
which in turn referred it, November 13, to the Board of 
Trade. In the report which this board promptly made, the 



1. Acts of the Privy Council 0/ England colonial Series. Vol. Ill, A. D. 
tV20-1745. Hereford: Printed for His Majesty's Stationery Office. 1910. Price 
ten shillings. The proceedings in regard to the charter of Georgia are recorded 
In pages 299-305. 



intending trustees found some objectionable details; and on 
January 12, 173 1, the committee of the Privy Council re- 
ferred it back to the Board of Trade along with proposed 
alterations, which concerned chiefly the power of appoint- 
ing and removing civil and military officers in the colony. 
The board then consented to the vesting of this power in 
the trustees, and cordially recommended the incorporation 
of the petitioners and the grant to them of the land lying 
between the Savannah and "Alatamaha" rivers. The com- 
mittee of the Privy Council endorsed this on November 18, 
and advised that the Attorney and Solicitor General be di- 
rected to prepare a draft of a charter accordingly; and on 
January 28 the Privy Council adopted this recommendation 
of its committee. When in the following June, however, 
the petitioners were informed of the terms of the charter 
as it came from the hands of the Attorney General, they 
were dissatisfied with its provisions concerning the terms 
of the councellors in office, the control of militia, and taxes 
on import and export trade. 1 The summer dispersion 
presumably prevented a meeting of of the associates until 
September 7, when they determined to present arguments 
against the objectionable features. In November Ogle- 
thorpe had hopes of procuring a satisfactory revision; but 
when on January 19, 1732, the Privy Council's committee 
on "Plantation Affairs" voted in Percival's -presence to ap- 
prove the draft of the Charter, not all the changes re- 
quested had been made. Percival adds to his laconic re- 
lation of this episode: "and we concerned therein acquiesced 
in their pleasure, though against the grain." 

All that now remained, it was thought, was mere formal- 
ity; and, putting vigorous pressure upon the crown officials, 
the trustees expected a speedy issue. But the lapse of a 
month without decisive action brought a crisis. Percival 
wrote on February 18: "Perceiving an unaccountable de- 
lay in the putting his Majesty's seal to the Carolina char- 
ter, . . .all our gentlemen concerned as trustees are much 



1. Diarii p. 19S 



out of humur, and some are for flinging it up." Both he 
and Oglethorpe now made stringent protests and inquiries 
in hi^h circles, which yielded the information, February 
25, that the obstruction came from the king himself on the 
ground that the charter did not reserve the appointment of 
militia officers to the crown. At a meeting hastily sum- 
moned, the petitioners resolved not to accept a revision in 
this regard, for fear that it would cause the colony to be 
burdened with expensive placemen and impede the adminis- 
tration of government. By much running to and fro in the 
next few days the influence of the chief ministers was en- 
listed on their side; and the king, having yielded his objec- 
tion, put his fiat upon the charter on January 26. and 
formally signed it on April 21, 1732. 1 

The pressing problem now became that of finance. As to 
the bequest of King, the haberdasher, one of its trustees 
had long since developed doubts that the Georgia project 
was consonant with the testator's intentions; and apparently 
the Georgia trust never procured any part of that fund. 
On the other hand the estimate of expense had not shrunk. 
Percival wrote, April 23, 1732: "Captain Coram, who 
knew the West Indies well, had declared to me that we 
could not set out under 12,000 /. Mr. La Roche agreed 
we could not under 10,000/. I said that was too little, 
for every family will stand us in 100 /. at 20/. a head 
the bare fitting out with tools, clothes and transporting; 
besides which we were to maintain them in provisions a 
vear when arrived, to build houses etc., and to erect a 
sort of fort, etc."- In default of any prospect of copious 
funds from private subscriptions, concerning which pre- 
liminary steps had long since been taken, the thoughts of 
the trustees were turning to the public treasury. They now 



1. Diary, p. 260. The official date of the charter is June 9, but this merely 
marks the completion of routine procedure, the affixing of the seal. In the interim 
the trustees had expressed their thanks to the chief officers of state for the grant- 
ing of the charter and proceeded to business as a virtually constituted body, 
though their first formal session was not held until July 20. 

2. In the next month Lord Carteret, the veteran proprietor of the province of 
Carolina expressed the opinion to Percival that the first settlement should be 
p*Kun with not less than a thousand persons, with resources of not less than 
L20.000 (Diary, p. 278). 



10 



devised a scheme of considerable adroitness. Having pre- 
viously procured the approval of Walpole and the King, 
they caused petitions to be presented in the House of Com- 
mons, May 12, from residents of Westminster, Southwark 
and other localities in and about London, "complaining of the 
the great abuses and mischief arising from vagrants and beg- 
gars who have no settlement. It was intended by Mr. Ogle- 
thorp and the other gentlemen concerned in the new intended 
settlement of colonies in South Carolina to ground^thereupon 
a motion for addressing the King to grant 10,000 /. to us 
for transporting those vagrants and beggars under the age 
of sixteen to South Carolina, and bind them to masters 
we should send over; but an unexpected opposition arose 
against us," which balked the plan for that year. 

On May 10, 1733, the question was revived in Parlia- 
ment by a petition from the Georgia trustees. After Sir Rob- 
ert Walpole had announced that the king had no objection 
to the granting of funds in aid of the colony, Sir Joseph 
Jekyl, Sir John Barnard, Horace Walpole and Colonel Bla- 
den, as well as Oglethorpe and Percival, spoke in favor of 
a grant. On the other side Mr. Whitworth spoke against 
the giving of public money, and also Mr. Winnington who 
said ''Our views of raising wine or silk or potashes might 
not answer, and we should buy our experience too dear." 
As to Whitworth's opposition, Percival confided to his 
diary: "I did not wonder at it, for he told me this morn- 
ing that he was against enlarging our colonies, and wished 
New England at the bottom of the sea." The opponents 
were too few to prevent the prompt appropriation of £10, 
000. 

Meanwhile, in October, 1732, although only £2000 had 
been procured in subscriptions, 1 the trustees resolved to 
plant the settlement. This resolution was against Perci- 
val's judgment; but Oglethorpe's decision to conduct the 
expedition in person diminished his apprehensions. 2 The 

1. These included £600 from directors of the East India Company, £3iOO 
from the directors of the Bank of England, and £300 from the trustees of the 
Earl of Thanet's legacy {Diary, p. 392). 

2. Diary, p. 293. 



11 



chief concern of the trustees now became the selection of 
persons to be sent "on the charity", the granting of lands- 
and the framing of laws. In these premises and in Georgia 
affairs in general after the summer of 1 733, the diary adds 
little to previous knowledge; for on the one hand the of- 
ficial journal of the trustees embodies all important data, 
and on the other hand Percival had his interest now dis- 
tracted for many months by other matters. There 
nevertheless in the diary, early and late, many more Geor- 
gia items than have here been noted; and no future re- 
search may neglect the scanning of its every page. 



12 






jy>zt' J^jght Upon the Founding 
of Qeorgia 






ILRICH BONNELL PHILLIPS, Ph. D. 

Professor of History in the 
University of Michigan 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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